Come create custom garden stake. This beginning level class willcover shop safety, fire management, tools and equipment, andappropriate use of the anvil. Beginners will develop their tapering, bending, twisting, and punching skills. These techniques are a crucialingredient for more advanced blacksmithing projects.

What to Wear in the Metals Studio?  

You must dress safely and appropriately. Arrive for class in all-natural fiber clothing, long pants, and closed-toe, closed-heel shoes with socks that protect up to the ankle. Long hair must be tied back. Nylon, polyester, spandex, or other synthetics are not allowed around machines, equipment, or processes that can produce hot fragments, sparks, or flames. Layers are encouraged, as the studio can be very cold or very hot. 

Welding students are recommended to wear long sleeve shirts to prevent arc-flash burns. Additional protective gear shall be provided as needed. 

Personal Property: 

Personal materials will need to go home with you at the end of each class. We do not provide storage. 

Ages: 16+ 

All supplies and materials will be provided. 

This class will be available to register on Friday, May 30 at 8:00am.

Who doesn’t love a little experimentation? In this all-levels hand-building class, we’ll be focusing on the assembly and construction of clay forms by cutting pieces up and putting them back together in any weird or wild way you can imagine.

Groundworks will provide multiple leather-hard thrown pieces that you can use to make your one-of-kind piece - either sculptural or functional. Due to the short length of this class, you’ll have a handful of glazing options to choose from and our dedication lab - uh, we mean studio - assistants will finish them up for you. After a few weeks, we’ll reach out and let you know when your pieces are ALIIIIIIVE!

This class takes place at Groundworks EAST 3063 Sterling Circle, Boulder, CO. 

PLEASE NOTE: This one-time class runs for 3.5 hours. You will not have access to the studio outside of the scheduled class time and all work will be completed during class time. You will also not have access to our other locations.

Your pieces will be fired in our electric kilns to Cone 6 Oxidation.

Ages: 16+

Available for registration Tuesday, May 27th at 8:00am

Students registered for the bookbinding class are invited to the letterpress shop to print a custom bookplate. This page will serve as the first page of the book that we'll bind on Friday. The book plate page will read, "This book belongs to ______" with the student's name. Students will choose a small cut from the Book Arts League collection and learn to set letterpress letters to print their names.

This book combines the soft opening of a leather spine with the sturdy firmness of board covers. The completed book opens nearly perfectly flat making it an ideal book for your journal writing or drawing. Creating your book involves sewing folded signatures through a leather spine with the long stitch. We will begin by getting acquainted with paper grain and its importance for the finished book. We will cover the boards of the book with decorative paper and once dry we'll drill holes in the covers to prepare for sewing. The leather spine will also need holes for sewing which we will pierce with an awl or drill. Paper signatures will be folded and pierced and then we'll take a short break for lunch. After lunch we will learn to sew the long stitch to bind the book. Covers will then be sewn onto the leather spine piece. By the end of the workshop, you will have completed your book, and have the skill to make more on your own. Class fee includes all materials we use to make a book: leather for the spine, a sheet of decorative paper to cover boards, paper for your signatures, a pair of pre-cut cover boards, glue, and waxed-linen thread. Students can borrow tools from the BAL or you can bring your own bookbinder's toolkit. Students will need: bonefolder, medium-weight awl, Xacto knife, scissors, ruler, and a bookbinder's needle. Optional: Students may elect to bring their own sheet of decorative paper for covering the boards. *

* Optional bookplate printing for Leather spine book

• Thursday July 31st
• 5pm-7pm
• $10

The evening before the longstitch journal class, students registered for the bookbinding class are invited to the letterpress shop to print a custom bookplate. This page will serve as the first page of the book that we'll bind on Friday. The book plate page will read, "This book belongs to ______" with the student's name. Students will choose a small cut from the Book Arts League collection and learn to set letterpress letters to print their names.

Register here

Welcome to Quick Print! These one-time classes offer students a crash course in one specific type of print without the commitment of a multi-week course. Perfect for beginners, experimenters, or anyone looking for a fun way to learn a new skill fast!

Wood blocks have an organic look, and you can use the woodgrain to bring beauty to your design.

Expand on the basics of relief printmaking using wood. This course provides an introduction to carving a block and making a successful print.

Ages: 16+ 

All supplies and materials will be provided. 

Will be available to register on Friday, May 30 at 8:00 am.

Are you lazing in your glazing? Sleeping on slip? Craving more carving? Let’s dig into it! In this one-time 2.5 hour class, we’ll do a deeper dive into surface decoration techniques such as sgraffito, mishima, carving through wax, and using slip as texture. 

Groundworks will provide flat tiles in a variety of different clay bodies for students to practice surface decoration on. Students can pick if they want their final pieces clear glazed or left raw, and after a few weeks, our staff will let you know when your pieces are out of the kiln and ready for pick-up.

This class takes place at Groundworks EAST 3063 Sterling Circle, Boulder, CO. 

PLEASE NOTE: This one-time class runs for 2.5 hours. You will not have access to the studio outside of the scheduled class time and all work will be completed during class time. You will also not have access to our other locations.

Your pieces will be fired in our electric kilns to Cone 6 Oxidation. Hot tip: electric kiln oxidation firing is what most people use in their home studio set-ups, so if you’re aiming to set up a home pottery business in the future, this is a great place to start!

Ages: 16+

Available for registration Tuesday, May 27th at 8:00am

Letterpress printing with LegosTaught by Brenda Gallagher and Julia Seko

Combine the beauty of letterpress printing with the fun of setting legos! Students will be given a type high lego baseplate on which to design their lego printing with lego tiles. Plates will then be locked up in the Vandercook letterpress to print. Students will learn printing with two different colors in two passes on the press. Multiple prints are encouraged for a print swap on the last day of class. If time allows, students can make a soft case to hold the collection.

This is a one month drop in course, held 4x, on four consecutive Wednesdays. Students can attend all 4 classes or just which ones work with the summer family calendar. This class is open to students ages 9+.

July 16 

July 23

July 30

Making Momigami Papertaught by Julia Seko and Greg Robl

Momigami is a Japanese craft used to strengthen paper-- it has traditionally been used for making clothing and other sturdy items.  Konnyaku, a starch from an edible tuber, is applied to the long-fibered paper, which is then crumpled into a ball and worked until the paper is flexible, then is smoothed out to dry.  In addition to durability, the paper acquires a lovely, faceted surface from which the colors of the paper shine through. When dry, students can create a simple business card wallet with finished momigami paper.

Join us for a day of playing with paper fiber and creative folding.